Hamster racing: the finest in British pub entertainment.

[reddragdiva]

Having bumped into him in the street on Friday evening, Joel (Rataxis) emailed yesterday suggesting we pop down the pub for suitable catch-up and refreshment. Specifically, the Spread Eagle in Camden. (A Young's pub; the beer is quite nice. Particularly the Winter Warmer and the chocolate stout.) Bloody tiny, though. wintrmute also showed (report), and Steve Cajun (barbedwirekiss) happened to wander along. Steve had heard on the radio about the hamster racing, you see.

How it works is that they get their hamster, Nicole, and put her in a bright pink hamster wheel. Then they put the wheel on top of a bright pink hamster car. Then they put the car on a little track. People put money in a sweepstakes and guess how long it will take Nicole to go three times around the track. Wild pub thrills! With shouting! And enthusiasm!

(The answer is 'one minute, thirteen seconds.' None of us won anything.)

Steve had a digital camera - pics if and when he puts them up. Update: pics here.

Who thinks up these things?

Comments

Wow.

[davefish.livejournal.com]

That sounds fantastic. Do you know if the hamster racing is a regular occurance?

Re: Wow.

[reddragdiva]

I shudder to think. Possibly, it seemed quite popular.

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

Obviously, the answer is to have competing pubs train up their own hamsters and instead of guessing times, have the two hamsters race for "best of three". Scheduled heats among a league of pubs in a region means many visits to other than just the local.

[marnameow.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't that be illegal?

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

which? The hamster racing, or visiting pubs that aren't the local?

[marnameow.livejournal.com]

Hamsters in pubs. I mean, they're clearly going to be under eighteen and you're not going to refuse the victory-hamster a pint....